Young And The Restless, The

1 9 7 3 – Current (USA)
12,500+ x 30/60 minute episodes

Lushly produced soap opera featuring a cast of gorgeous, near-naked newcomers who would break into song at the drop of a hat, The Young and the Restless premiered on CBS in 1973 and instantly branded all other soaps old-fashioned.

No social issue was taboo: incest, breast cancer, euthanasia and obesity were all explored, and in only its second season, The Young and the Restless won the Emmy as “Outstanding Daytime Drama”.

This long-running soap still titillates with its tales about the residents of the (fictional) Mid-Western town of Genoa. The real-life inspiration for show creators, William J Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, was a vacation home at nearby Lake Geneva.

The two original families that were the core focus of the show were the Fosters and the Brooks families. With the exception of Jill Foster Abbott Fenmore (Brenda Dickson) and Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper), they were written out early on and replaced with the Abbott and Williams families. Jill is the longest-running character on the show and the only original.

Brad Eliot
Tom Hallick
Stuart Brooks
Robert Colbert
Jennifer Brooks
Dorothy Green
Leslie Brooks
Janice Lynde
Chris Brooks
Trish Stewart
Peggy Brooks
Pamela Peters
Liz Foster
Julianna McCarthy
Bill “Snapper” Foster
William Gray Espy
Greg Foster
James Houghton
Jill Foster
Brenda Dickson
Pierre Rolland
Robert Clary
Sally McGuire
Lee Crawford
Barbara Anderson
Diedre Hall
Marianne
Lilyan Chauvan
Gwen Sherman
Jennifer Leak
Philip Chancellor
Donnelly Rhodes
Katherine (Kaye) Chancellor
Jeanne Cooper
Jed Andrews
Tom Selleck